The Scotland Republican Party’s non-partisan discussion on the HB2 bill went better than expected and we thank those attendees from the Scotland Democrat Party.

More than likely those with strong convictions on either side weren’t persuaded to change their minds, but both groups voiced concerns in a respectful manner and with tolerance. The main accomplishment was to communicate.

One such false assumption is that HB2 is based on segregation of a minority when in fact the law strives to maintain an individual’s moral rights to privacy thus maintaining a level of self respect normally associated with most civilized cultures. In this case, the original Charlotte city council’s ruling grants one group a right at the expense of another group and cannot be justified.

One of the first objections to HB2 was to Dr. Paul R. McHugh’s letter published in the Wall Street Journal proclaiming “transgenderism a mental disorder.”

McHugh, a former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital and its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, said that transgenderism merits treatment, that sex change is “biologically impossible,” and that people who promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder.

McHugh, the author of six books and at least 125 peer-reviewed medical articles, said that surgery is no solution for people who suffer a “disorder of ‘assumption’” – the notion that their maleness or femaleness is different than what nature assigned to them biologically.

It is similar to a “dangerously thin” person suffering anorexia who looks in the mirror and thinks they are “overweight,” said Dr. McHugh.

This assumption, that one’s gender is only in the mind regardless of anatomical reality, has led some transgender people to push for social acceptance and affirmation of their own subjective “personal truth,” said Dr. McHugh.

Also, for those who had sexual reassignment surgery, most said they were “satisfied” with the operation “but their subsequent psycho-social adjustments were no better than those who didn’t have the surgery.” Also those that have undergone transgender surgical alterations were found to have a suicide rate 20 times greater than those that had not. “And so at Hopkins we stopped doing sex-reassignment surgery, since producing a ‘satisfied’ but still troubled patient seemed an inadequate reason for surgically amputating normal organs,” said Dr. McHugh.

While the Obama administration, Hollywood, and major media such as Time magazine promote transgenderism as normal, McHugh said these “policy makers and the media are doing no favors either to the public or the transgendered by treating their confusions as a right in need of defending rather than as a mental disorder that deserves understanding, treatment and prevention.”

At our SCGOP May 23 meeting, opposition to McHugh’s article was confined to a few personal opinions that unfortunately lacked the validation of qualified professionals.

Other disputed areas of HB2 resulted from misinformation, misinterpretation, confusion, and hypocrisy.

North Carolinians value privacy and equality. This Charlotte ordinance forced businesses to abide by a set of bathroom and locker room regulations never seen before in any North Carolina city.

Actually Charlotte City Council rejected this same proposal less than a year ago. Prior to the most recent vote, Gov. Pat McCrory notified Charlotte that this unnecessary and intrusive mandate conflicts with basic expectations of privacy. As expected Charlotte City Council failed to respond to McCrory’s notification, and the state took action on what was seen as Charlotte’s overreach.

The action came in the form of an executive order to accomplishes the following:

— It maintains common sense gender-specific restroom and locker room facilities in government buildings and in our schools, and when possible, encourages reasonable accommodations for families and those who have unique or special circumstances.

— The private sector can make its own policy with regard to restrooms, locker rooms and/or shower facilities. This is not a government decision, this is a private sector decision.

— It affirmed the private sector and local government’s right to establish its own non-discrimination employment policies.

It expands North Carolina’s equal employment opportunity policy to clarify that sexual orientation and gender identity are included.

— McCrory is seeking legislation in the short session to reinstate the right to sue for discrimination in North Carolina state courts.

According to the Obama administration, HB2 is illegal, which justifies withholding federal funds for schools. The last time I looked federal law state that marijuana is still illegal, so is the federal government withholding school funds from Colorado?

If not, is North Carolina being discriminated against? And what happened to “liberty and justice for all?

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Mark Schenck

Contributing columnist

 

Mark Schenck is chairman of the Scotland County Republican Party.